What is This Lojban Thing?

.i semo le lojbo

David Montenegro

Seacoast Linux Users Group

le banli dizlo 

The Great Below, By Nine Inch Nails

Sung by Robin Lee Powell

catlu le xamsi
xu xruti
xu se pacna mi
ba ro cusku je sisti
ro da se jdima ro de
dunda ro di do
ro prali poi xaksu jmive
dunda ro ri do

ro remna pu kalganlo
be'usai tatpi krici
mu'i ro ka'e gasnu
gi'e ro ka'e zasti

xamsi lacpu mi
je smata'a fe mi
le mi cuxna dimna
ca binxo jimpe
le flecu ca cusku
temci fa li so'u
lumci zo'e mi
rinka nu canci mi

je mi vrude cliva
vi le flecu birka
mi stuzi xruti
vi banli dizlo

ca'o ganse do
mu'inai vu darno

So... besides sounding funny...

The native language of Lojbanistan...

Main Features of Lojban

• constructed spoken language
• designed to be culturally neutral
• based on the principles of logic
• unambiguous and regular grammar (mostly regular semantics)
• phonetic spelling
• only 1342 root words

Origins in Loglan

• Lojban is descended from Loglan.
• Loglan was invented by Dr. James Cooke Brown (a.k.a. JCB) in 1955.
• Intended to test Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
• Published in Scientific American article, Loglan, June 1960.

Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis

the structure of a language constrains the thinking of people using that language

strong form:

language limits thought

weak form:

language influences thought

The Loglan Institute

Brown founded the Loglan Institute (a.k.a. TLI).

From left: James Cooke Brown, Bob McIvor, and Alex Leith.

The Logical Language Group (a.k.a. LLG)

• 1986 Washington DC splinter group decided to re-engineer Loglan, organized in informally 1987
• Created language called Lojban
• Legal battle over copyright to Loglan
• Brown's copyright was ruled invalid
• LLG incorporated in 1988, became 501(c)(3) in 1989
• Lojban language baselined in 1997

Loglan Family Tree

Speaking Lojban

Orthography

Roman Alphabet

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

Lojban Alphabet

'

,

.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

r

s

t

u

v

x

y

z

Lexical Order

ASCII table

Dvorak Keyboard

Phonology - Vowels

Diphthongs

English Consonants

Non-English Consonants

Morphology

• gismu - content words - CVCCV or CCVCV
  1342 gismu
  Examples: nanmu (CVCCV), snuji (CCVCV)
• cmavo - structure words - V VV V'V CV CVV CV'V
  a few hundred cmavo
  Examples: .e (V), .ui (VV), je (CV), ju'o (CV'V)
• lujvo, cmene, and fu'ivla - more complicated letter patterns

festival

• festival - general-purpose multi-lingual speech synthesis system from University of Edinburgh Centre for Speech Technology Research
• C++ API
• built-in SIOD Scheme interpreter
• my homemade festvox (penultimate stress, missing "x" phoneme)
• Official LLG festvox ("x" phoneme, missing penultimate stress)
  (README, WAV files )

Synthesis Examples

• using my festvox:

  $ festival
  (voice_kal_diphone_jbo_us1)
  (SayText "i semo le lojbo")
  

• using the LLG festvox:

  $ festival
  (load "/wherever/ljb_diphone/festvox/lojban_diphone.scm")
  (voice_lojban_diphone)
  (SayText "i semo le lojbo")
  

"Let There Be Light"

ni'oni'o
ca lemu'e krasi ku finti fa la cevni le tsani .e le terdi
.i le terdi cu na'e seltarmi je kunti
.ijebo manku vi ga'u le condi
.ije le pruxi be la cevni cu fulta ga'u loi djacu
.i bacru fa la cevni lu .e'o gusni li'u
.ijebo gusni
.i zgana fa la cevni le gusni fi'o se jinvi loza'i xamgu
.i fedri'a fa la cevni fo le gusni ku ce le manku (ku)
.i te cmene fa la cevni le gusni zo dinri
 gi'e te cmene le manku zo nicte
.i vanci .i cerni .i pamei djedi

Synthesized Vocabulary Tracks

• festival can be used to synthesize vocabulary training tracks
• using scripts which I wrote
• some example MP3s
• these are prototypes ONLY - not yet ready for production

Lojban Grammar - selbri

selbri are like cup holders

sumti

sumti are like cups

bridi

bridi (phrases) establish a relationship

bridi

selbri + sumti = bridi

some selbri and sumti

simple bridi

• ti plise
  This/these is/are apple(s).
• mi tavla do
  I talk to you.
• mi cinse
  I am sexy.

descriptions

• description = [optional number] + gadri + selbri
• numbers:

  0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	last/all/infinity
  no	pa	re	ci	vo	mu	xa	ze	bi	so	dau	fei	gai	jau	rei	vai	ro

• gadri (like English articles):

  gadri	Meaning	English analogue
  lo	that which really is (veridical)	a
  le	that which I describe as (non-veridical)	the
  (others)	I'm not gonna tell you!

Description Examples

tanru = "binary metaphor"

• tanru = ( selbri + selbri ) + ...
• read "type-of" or "kind-of"
• semantically ambiguous!
• left-associative (can be overriden with cmavo)
• Examples:

  Description	Meaning
  lo cinse nanmu	a sexy man/men
  lo crino plise	a green apple/s
  lo crino plise nanmu	a green apple man/men (maybe a man eating a green apple)

bridi with descriptions and tanru

• le nanmu cu nelci le plise
  The man likes the apple.
• ci lo plise cu crino
  Three apples are green.
• ro lo ninmu na cinse
  Not all women are sexy.
• mi djuno roda
  I know everything.
• le cinse bajra cu tavla re lo nanmu
  The sexy runner talks to two men.
(roda is a kind of sumti-based description)

Attitudinals

Example Attitudinals: .uisai = very happy, .uinai = unhappy, .uinairo'o = physical unhappiness, .eire'e = spiritual obligation

Example Bridi: .ui mi citka re lo plise = [Happiness!] I eat two apples.

Machine Grammar

• Lojban grammar defined by YACC grammar [version 233] (EBNF translation [version 233])
• some pre-/post-processing
• proven to parse unambiguously
• official LLG parser

• $ echo le ninmu cu viska le plise | ./node
  2;5;33moi ke lojbo genturfa'i
  Copyright 1991,1992,1993 The Logical Languages Group, Inc.  All Rights Reserved
  ({le ninmu KU} cu {viska <[le plise KU] VAU>})
  Space used: 5600 bytes for tokens, 100 bytes for strings
  Time used: 0 seconds
  

Logical Connectives

• four logical vowels: a, e, o, u
• can be negated with na (prefix) and/or nai (suffix)

Logical Connective Examples

• use to connect sumti or bridi
• le bakni .e le jipci - the beef AND the chicken
• le bakni .enai le jipci - the beef AND NOT the chicken
• le bakni na.enai le jipci - NITHER the beef NOR the chicken
• mi nelci le plise .ije mi citka le plise
  I like the apple AND I eat the apple.
• le ninmu cu cinse .inaja la ben. nelci le ninmu
  IF the woman is sexy, THEN Ben likes the woman.

The Truth About selbri - Places

Example Places

Predicate Calculus

• selbri represent predicates, sumti represent arguments, bridi represent predications
• eats(me,X) AND apple(X) -> likes(me,X)
  If I eat X and X is an apple, then I like X.
  mi citka da .ije da plise .inaja mi nelci da
• draw inferences by same mechanisms as in predicate logic:
  • Law of Modus Ponens
  • Law of Modus Tollens
  • negation of quantifiers
  • ...lots of other logical transformations

Law of Modus Ponens

1. da plise .inaja mi nelci da
2. da plise
3. Conclusion: mi nelci da

1. If something is an apple, then I like it.
2. That something is an apple.
3. Conclusion: I like it.

Modus Tollens and DeMorgan's Theorem

1. mi citka da .ije da plise .inaja mi nelci da
2. mi na nelci da
3. Conclusion: mi na citka da .ija da na plise

1. If I eat X and X is an apple, then I like X.
2. I don't like X.
3. Conclusion: I don't eat X or X is not an apple.

Negation Over Quantifiers

1. lo ninmu cu cinse
2. Implies: no lo ninmu na cinse

1. One or more women are sexy.
2. Implies: It is not true that no women are sexy.

nitcion's semantic analyzer

• the analyzer converts Lojban to equivalent Prolog predicates
• reads output of the LLG parser
• written in NU-Prolog (with lex prefilter)
• extracts information from Lojban text
• stores it in logical form
• answers simple questions on the content
• nitcion wrote a paper on the parser
• (analyzer executes infinite recursion under GNU Prolog, so no live demo!)

Example Semantic Analyses

• mi se prami do (I am loved by you.)
  prami(do, mi, _FJJXH, _FJJXI, _FJJXJ)
• mi prami lo prenu ku poi ke'a citka lo cakla
  (I love a person who eats a chocolate.)
  q(suho(1), _FJKWJ, prenu(_FJKWJ, _FJKDO, _FJKDP, _FJKDQ, _FJKDR), q(suho(1), _FJKGU, cakla(_FJKGU, _FJKLJ, _FJKLK, _FJKLL, _FJKLM), _FJKIQ, citka(_FJKWJ, _FJKGU, _FJKGV, _FJKGW, _FJKGX)), prami(mi, _FJKWJ, _FJJZA, _FJJZB, _FJJZC))

Automated Translation

• mi citka le plise
• [₁(₂[citka1 (eat-er(s)) :] mi I, me)₂ [is, does] «₃citka eat-ing»₃ (₄[citka2 (eaten thing(s)) :] le the plise apple(s))₄]₁

Lojban and Real People

• #lojban IRC channel on the Freenode IRC network, accessible via CGI:IRC gateway on lojban.org.
• The obligatory mailing lists include lojban-list and lojban-beginners.
• Lojban news website nuzban.
• Lojban podcast jbocradi (Lojban radio). Episode three: Robin Lee Powell's Tale of Woe, Part One and The Moon Song.
• computer games
• original and translated works of art and literature (Lojban text archive)

Translated Works

• The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu.
• The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
• Partial translation of The Christian Bible, (see excerpt from Genesis )
• and many more!

Original Art

• ckafybarja (Coffee Bar), a project to create original Lojban writings.
  (some, namely ckafybarja1 and ckafybarja2, by nitcion)
• Original poetry in Lojban (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3).
• Original novel la nicte cadzu (Night Walkers),
  contains first ever Lojban sex scene. (HTML, plain text)
• A rock/techno song with Lojban lyrics (unfortunately, the lyrics are random!) (MP3 file , PDF sheet music )
• A mathematical proof in Lojban.
• Fractal Lojban Sentences: la nelci bebna

Other Lojban Software

Computer Games

• Jay's Random Sentence Generator generates random Lojban sentences.
  (Perl source code, ).
• Lojban translation of the Colossal Cave Adventure game.
• A Lojban MUD in the works.
• Lojban translation of The Legend Of Zelda.

Editor Plugins

• A Lojban mode for emacs.
• A Lojban syntax file for vim.

Some Zelda Screenshots

 

So, What of Sapir-Whorf?

• need native speakers of Loglan/Lojban/Legvaf
• need controlled (looooong-term!) experiments

• limits interpersonal communication (social mind)
• restricts verbal/written memory (reinvent the wheel)
• profound effect the invention of writing (a form of language) had
• personally only noticed during meditation
• I'm not yet fluent in Lojban
• others claim to have expeirenced a change of perspective

The Future of Lojban

• human-computer interaction (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein)
• applications for semantic web (easily replace ugly XML ontologies)
• applications in e-commerce (bargain hunting, automated bartering)
• Using UML to understand Lojban
• successor language Legvaf!
  • fewer terminators
  • more regular semantics
  • more expressive grammar

Learning Lojban

• Lojban For Beginners series of introductory lessons. (errata )
• The Complete Lojban Language (a.k.a. CLL, or The Lojban Reference Grammar), accessible online as browsable web pages , a HTML ZIP archive , wiki pages, or a HTML ZIP archive wiki attachment. (errata )
• The Lojban "wordlists": the official lists of cmavo (errata ), gismu (errata ), rafsi , and lujvo (errata ).
• These and other files at Lojban File Server Roadmap.
• Introductory brochures on Lojban.
• Ask me. (<-- prolly gonna regret that one...)

Acknowledgements

Thank You

...to all those people who contributed material to this slide show. Special thanks go to those who may yet be unaware of their contribution to the show. If, at any point, you are to discover that your intellectual property has been incorporated into this presentation, and you would like to have it removed, please contact either the webmaster of the site hosting this copy of the presentation, or myself directly, and either or both of us would be happy to remove any offending content. No compensation, whether in money, property, or any other form, was received, actually or constructively, for the execution of this presentation, which was and is intended solely for educational purposes. Commercial use of this presentation is expressly prohibited.

Contact Information

• David Montenegro
  P.O. Box 763
  Farmington, NH 03835
• 1-360-488-0840 (NOT area code 603!)
• Free World Dialup (VoIP) #539419
• [email protected]
• PGP Key ID #A39EA73D, fingerprint:
  1CF8 80E6 A23C F1B3 38A7 3BFD 581C 9889 A39E A73D

-- Technical Slides --

Pay no attention to the slides behind this curtain...

Presentation Setup - 1 software requirements

• this presentation tarball and web browser
• MP3 player
• festival
• Edinburgh Speech Tools (the speech-tools package in Debian, /usr/libexec/speech-tools/ in the festival package in Fedora Core)
• LLG festvox WAV file ZIP archive (akwavs.zip)
• GNU prolog (for la nelci bebna)
• NU prolog and some variant of lex (both for nitcion's semantic analyzer)
• Perl (for local execution of the random sentence generator)

Presentation Setup - 2 jbo_us1 festvox

1. # ln -s english /usr/share/festival/voices/lojban
2. # ln -s kal_diphone /usr/share/festival/voices/lojban/kal_diphone_jbo_us1
3. # cp local/festvox/kal_diphone_jbo_us1/festvox/kal_diphone_jbo_us1.scm /usr/share/festival/voices/lojban/kal_diphone_jbo_us1/festvox/

Presentation Setup - 3 LLG festvox

1. Install (decompress) the wavs you downloaded into festvox/ljb_diphone/wav/
2. make sure your ESTDIR (Edinburgh Speech Tools Directory) is set properly (for Debian it should be set to /usr) and run make. This should build the timings from the Praat files and generate the pitchmark files from the wavs.
3. Edit ljb_diphone/festvox/lojban_diphone.scm so it reflects your installed path. XXX this should go away

Presentation Setup - 4 LLG parser

1. $ gunzip -c local/parser.shar.gz > parser.shar
2. $ unshar parser.shar
3. $ cp mill/parser/*.c . # poor man's patch
4. $ make `for i in *.c; do echo "$i" | sed 's/\.c$/.o/'; done`
5. $ cc -l c -o node *.o

Presentation Setup - 5 analyzer

1. $ lex -l -oanalyser.c analyser.lex
2. $ gcc -l c -l fl -o analex analyser.c
3. $ cat mill/genesis-excerpt.txt | node -dl | analex > cooked.txt
4. $ $YOURPROLOG
5. | ?- ['mill/analyser.pl'].
6. | ?- parse('cooked.txt').